June 15, 2016

Sharp Contrast Between Clinton, Trump On Veterans And Military Families

Hillary Clinton held a discussion in Hampton, Virginia, today with veterans, military families, and members of the defense community. On this campaign, Clinton has made supporting veterans and military families a top priority, and it’s a cause she has fought for throughout her career. On the other hand, despite his incessant lip service on the trail, Donald Trump has been disrespecting our veterans and our military for decades, proving yet again he's unqualified and temperamentally unfit to be commander-in-chief. Take a look at the contrast below.

Trump Businesses Have Fired Employees Because Of Their Military Service

HuffPo: Trump Institute Fired Veteran For ‘Absences’ After He Was Deployed To Afghanistan

CNN: Iraq war veteran claims Trump University fired her for serving in the Army Reserve

HuffPo: Third Veteran Dumped By Trump Because Of Military Service

Trump Repeatedly Lied About Donations To Veterans Charities

Washington Post: Here’s how we found out about Donald Trump’s phantom $1 million donation to vets

Mother Jones' Kevin Drum: “If character is supposed to be important in our presidents, this is evidence of the most contemptible kind of character imaginable. He tried to cheat a bunch of veterans!”

CNN: Trump’s website boasts that he gave $1 million to the 1995 Nation’s Day Parade, but the event’s organizer said that’s about three times more than he actually gave.

Trump Scammed Veterans Through Trump University

CNN [VIDEO]: 40-year Navy veteran scammed out of $26,000 by Trump University

Ex-Marine: “[Trump University] was a con. I’m 25-years-old, barely making $3,000 a month and they told me to increase my credit limit. I just maxed out three credit cards and I’m supposed to be able to qualify for loans to buy real estate? Those stupid principles have led me to borrow $700,000 of other people’s money and lose it all. I’m still paying off some of that debt to this day.”

TIME: “The records indicate, for example, that Trump University collected approximately $40 million from its students–who included veterans, retired police officers and teachers–and that Trump personally received approximately $5 million of it”

Trump Repeatedly Compared His Sex Life And The Risk Of Contracting STDs To War

1993: Trump: “You know, if you’re young, and in this era, and if you have any guilt about not having gone to Vietnam. We have our own Vietnam. It’s called the dating game.”

1997: Trump on avoiding STDs: “I’ve been so lucky in terms of that whole world. It is a dangerous world out there — it’s scary, like Vietnam. Sort of like the Vietnam era. It is my personal Vietnam. I feel like a great and very brave soldier.”

2004: Trump on avoiding STDs: “ I tell my sons just to get a nice girlfriend and be happy, because it’s dangerous out there. It’s Vietnam. I guess now we can say it’s Iraq—same deal, right?”

Trump Insults Prisoners Of War

Trump on Sen. John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured, ok? I hate to tell you.”

BuzzFeed: Trump: I Don’t Regret McCain Comments, My Poll Numbers Went Up

Trump Attempted To Kick Disabled Veterans Who Were Vendors Off The Street Across Two Decades

1991: Trump Letter to State Assemblyman John Dearie: “While disabled veterans should be given every opportunity to earn a living, is it fair to do so to the detriment of the city as a whole or its tax paying citizens and businesses?... Do we allow Fifth Ave., one of the world’s finest and most luxurious shopping districts, to be turned into an outdoor flea market, clogging and seriously downgrading the area?”

2004: Trump Letter to Mayor Bloomberg: “Whether they are veterans or not, they should not be allowed to sell on this most important and prestigious shopping street… I hope you can stop this very deplorable situation before it is too late.”

Trump Has Signaled He Wants To Privatize The VA, And Said He Opposed The Post-9/11 GI Bill

WSJ: “While short on details, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee would likely push VA health care toward privatization and might move for it to become more of an insurance provider like Medicare rather than an integrated hospital system, said Sam Clovis, Mr. Trump’s chief policy adviser, in an interview.”

POLL: 64% of veterans oppose privatization -- with 54% of them strongly opposing it -- while only 29% support it.

Asked point-blank in May if he supported the Post-9/11 G.I., which has benefitted over 700,000 veterans and their family members, Trump said no.

Trump Insults Our Military

Trump: “Our military is a disaster.”

NYT: “Donald J. Trump, who received draft deferments through much of the Vietnam War, told the author of a coming biography that he nevertheless “always felt that I was in the military” because of his education at a military-themed boarding school.”

Trump on Armored Humvees: “If a bomb goes off our wounded warriors–instead of losing their legs, their arms, worse, they’re okay. They go for a little ride upward and they come down.”


Hillary Clinton Has A Real Record And Agenda Of Supporting Veterans And Military Families

Clinton’s plan will:

- Fundamentally reform veterans’ health care to ensure veterans’ access to timely and high quality health care and block efforts to privatize the VHA

- Modernize and refocus the full spectrum of veterans’ benefits across the federal government

- Overhaul VA governance to create a new veteran-centric model of excellence

- Empower veterans and strengthen our economy and communities by connecting their unique skills to the jobs of the future

- Sustain and strengthen the all-volunteer force

-Strengthen services and support for military families

[Read the full, 12-page veterans plan here and her new, expanded agenda to support military families here.]


Clinton’s Record

Joined efforts to build veterans rehabilitation center. Hillary joined with Republican Senator John McCain to personally raise money for the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund. Their efforts were critical to building the Center for the Intrepid, a new $50 million state-of-the-art physical rehabilitation facility in San Antonio, Texas, designed specifically to help seriously wounded service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Increased assistance for families caring for veterans. Hillary introduced the Heroes at Home Act of 2006, and fought to establish new services for military members and veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries. She successfully amended the 2007 Defense Appropriations Act to establish a traumatic brain injury family caregiver training curriculum for DOD and VA hospitals, and she championed efforts to make it easier for military family members to provide care for their loved ones.

Expanded health care coverage for Reservists and National Guard members. Hillary worked across the aisle with Senator Lindsey Graham to expand veterans’ access to military health insurance, ensuring that all members of the Reserves and National Guard—and their families—had access to military health benefits even when they’re not deployed.

Protected family members caring for wounded warriors. Hillary collaborated closely with Senator Chris Dodd to author and introduce new legislation that aimed to broaden protections afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act to the family members of wounded service members. She is proud that the legislation was enacted as part of the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act.

Supported survivors of fallen service members. Working with Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Hillary introduced legislation to expand benefits afforded to surviving spouses. She joined with Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to introduce a bill to increase the gratuity paid to family members of fallen veterans from $12,000 to $100,000, a proposal that was enacted as part of the 2005 supplemental appropriations act. Hillary also served as an honorary board member for the non-profit Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors, which provides resources and support to family members of those who have died in military service.

Was one of the first to recognize Gulf War Syndrome and fought to ensure Gulf War Veterans got the treatment they needed.  She met with sick veterans and researched Gulf War Syndrome before President Clinton announced the formation of a committee to study the issue and was the point person for the administration on the issue.

###


For Immediate Release, June 15​, 2016